Vice President Joe Biden Lands In Iraq To Commemorate End Of Combat Operations

By Gina GomezBaghdad, Aug 31, (THAINDIAN NEWS) United States Vice President Joe Biden made a trip to the Iraqi capital of Baghdad in the wake of the end of the combat mission of the American forces in the trouble torn country on Tuesday. After the vice president landed in Baghdad on Monday night and he was greeted by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, Gen. Ray Odierno who is the present American ambassador as well as Ambassador Jim Jeffrey.

According to White House, during his visit to the conflict-ravaged nation, the United States vice president would be holding meetings with President Jalal Talabani as well as Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, apart from a host of other prominent leaders. At the same time, Vice President Joe Biden is also scheduled to attend a special ceremony to commemorate Operation New Dawn which would be held on Wednesday. Operation New Dawn is the new name given to the current mission of the United States to ‘advise and assist’ Iraqi forces to handle the security of the country on their own. The official end to the combat operations in Iraq would be marked by President Barack Obama in a speech that he would be delivering from the Oval Office at 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday.

Fewer than 50,000 American troops continue to remain in Iraq after large number of the forces departed from the trouble-torn nation in the recent past. All of the U.S army are scheduled to be out of the country by the end of next year following seven years of fighting that resulted in the deaths of millions of innocent civilians as well as an estimated 4,400 troops.